April 2008
This column examines laws aimed at preventing sex offenders from reoffending and court challenges to those laws. All states have enacted registration and community notification requirements. More than 20 states and hundreds of municipalities now restrict where sex offenders can live. In many states, public disclosure of registration information is not limited to predatory offenders, but instead includes everyone convicted of a sexually related offense. The author argues that draconian approaches will likely not achieve the goal of protecting the public and that they divert limited resources from other law enforcement needs. ..more.. by Paul S. Appelbaum, M.D.
March 31, 2008
Sex Offenders in the Community: Are Current Approaches Counterproductive?
March 29, 2008
MO- Man sues to be kept off sex offender registry
3-29-2008 Missouri
A registered sex offender is moving to the area, and he doesn't want you to know who he is.
A man using the pseudonym "John Doe" (perfectly legal) filed suit against Webster County Sheriff Ron Worsham, the county's prosecutor and the superintendent of the Missouri Highway Patrol this week, hoping a 30th Circuit Court judge will rule he doesn't have to register as a sex offender in Missouri.
The plaintiff contends being forced to register would leave him "disadvantaged and harmed."
More important, he argues that since he was convicted of a sex offense before Missouri established its sex offender registry in 1995, he shouldn't have to register. The Missouri Supreme Court has agreed with that notion in the past.
"The suit that we have filed merely seeks clarification of the statute," said attorney Jason Umbarger, who filed the petition. "It's not an attempt to avoid the statute. He doesn't know what he's supposed to do."
According to the suit, "John Doe" pleaded guilty in Georgia in 1993 to two counts of child molestation.
He served three years in prison for the offense and completed seven years of probation, the suit says. He is required to register as a sex offender in Georgia.
The man has now secured employment in Missouri and is in the process of moving to Webster County, Umbarger said.
But "John Doe" doesn't want his face, address and past crimes to crop up on Web sites that list Missouri's sex offenders. So the suit asks a judge to determine whether the man must register.
It argues that forcing him to do so would amount to retroactive punishment, since the registry went into effect on Jan. 1, 1995, more than a year after his conviction.
"Fifteen years ago, he did some really stupid stuff," Umbarger said. "He's been trying to live it down ever since."
The Missouri sex offender registry law -- known in most states as a "Megan's Law" --says those who were convicted of a qualified sex offense in another state as far back as 1979 must register if they move to Missouri.
But a 2006 Missouri Supreme Court decision disagreed.
In that case, justices found "Missouri's Megan's Law cannot be enforced against offenders who, prior to its January 1, 1995 effective date, pleaded guilty to or were found guilty of crimes included in the registration law."
The opinion did not differentiate between those who committed a sex crime in Missouri and those convicted in other states. That ambiguity is a primary reason for "John Doe's" suit, Umbarger said.
As a result of the Supreme Court ruling, the sex offender registry maintained by the Missouri Highway Patrol no longer lists the addresses of 4,364 people whose most recent sex-offense conviction occurred before 1995.
But there's pressure to upend the court's ruling. Earlier this week, state senators endorsed a constitutional amendment that would allow retroactive enforcement of the sex offender registry.
If passed by both the Senate and House, that measure could appear on the November statewide ballot.
The Supreme Court's ruling is only part of Umbarger's argument.
The attorney also contends that Missouri's Megan's Law does not adequately separate offenders who might still be dangerous from those who are not.
"Many offenders required ... to register are not dangerous to others and have not been found to be dangerous sex offenders," the suit says. "Plaintiff is not dangerous to anyone."
And requiring "John Doe" to register would infringe on the man's rights to due process, the suit says.
Prior to filing in Webster County, Umbarger planned to plead his client's case in Greene County. He filed a similar suit against Greene County Sheriff Jack Merritt and the state of Missouri earlier this month.
But because "John Doe" has since decided not to move to Greene County, Umbarger said he will move to have the case dismissed.
Merritt, who had heard of the Greene County suit but not seen a copy, called it commendable that the plaintiff had sought to legally dodge the registry rather than simply fail to report his presence to authorities.
"If he is a mandated registrant here, I would expect him to comply," Merritt said. "My suggestion for him would be to find a state where the statutes might conform to what he wants."
The sheriff said there's no concrete system whereby his office is alerted of sex offenders moving into the area. Some jurisdictions will alert the department if they know an offender is moving into Greene County, he said.
"When you get down to it, they can move around a lot until you can't keep up with them that well," Merritt said. "I would never ever say that we have a complete registry."
If the sheriff's department does become aware of an offender coming into Greene County, deputies contact the offender. ..more.. by Dirk VanderHart
OH- Bellevue man facing charges for having sex with a table
3-29-2008 Ohio
BELLEVUE -- Police say a man in Bellevue was caught on tape having sex with a picnic table.
Bellevue Police Captain Matt Johnson says Art Price, Jr., 40, was seen on four occasions between the hours of 10:30 a.m. and noon having sex with his picnic table. What makes this a felony, Johnson says, is that it took place in close proximity to a school, which made it likely that children could have seen Price.
The neighbor -- who wishes to remain anonymous -- saw Price walk out onto his deck, stand a round metal table on its side and use the hole for the umbrella to have sex.
The most recent instance took place March 14, we're told. A neighbor videotaped Price.
"The first video we had, he was completely nude. He would use the hole from the umbrella and have sex with the table," Johnson says.
Police say Price admitted to the crimes -- four charges of public indecency. Usually these sorts of things are misdemeanors, but in this case, they are felonies.
"What boosts it up to a felony is that the statute says if it's likely to be viewed by a minor," Johnson explains.
The Price family did not want to talk with us, but neighbors did. Some are not happy Price was released on his own recognizance.
"He shouldn't be allowed just for the fact that he could do that again -- and nude that close to a school. That should be zero tolerance," says Brice Jacobs, a neighbor.
Price is married with three school-aged children. Neighbors tell us they're now worried about the kids.
"Hopefully it stays between the adults and the kids don't get a lot of the information so they aren't so cruel to the little kids," says Emily Grote, a neighbor.
This case has police in this small town shaking their heads. "Once you think you've seen it all, something else comes around," Johnson says. ..more.. by WTOL11
March 28, 2008
CA- Rights of alleged library loiterer violated, claim many
3-28-2008 California:
A maelstrom of outrage over Folsom man Victor Emmer’s arrest has swept through the Folsom and El Dorado County communities.
Even the American Civil Liberties Union has weighed in on the issue.
The 49-year-old Emmer was arrested at his house March 13 on suspicion of loitering where children gather after a woman’s citizen’s arrest warrant alleged Emmer had spoken to her two children at three different children’s-themed events.
Emmer has no prior offenses and is currently free on $100,000 bail.
Many community members see him being the true victim.
Emmer’s story was posted on the Telegraph’s website shortly after the arrest and has since received more than 22,000 visits from web users.
User comments, by and large, believe Emmer was wronged.
One comment reads, “The notion that you can jail people just for talking, even to children, seems very much in tension with the First Amendment.”
Another asks, “Since when is it a crime to speak to children?”
One expletive-laden e-mail sent to the Telegraph said, “Just because some dumb ignorant (woman) is creeped out by some guy talking to her kids… doesn’t mean (Emmer) is guilty of committing any crime.”
Even websites like the Los Angeles-based reason.com and Seattle’s newsvine.com have picked the story up.
“I can understand the police talking with the guy, or even asking him to stay away from the woman's kids,” wrote Radley Balko, the reason.com staff member who originally posted the story. “But arresting him? Since when is it a crime to talk to children? The guy isn't a sex offender, has no criminal record and was under no order not to speak to children.”
Still, the El Dorado County Sheriff’s Department maintains everything was done by the book.
“The fact is, the sheriff’s office responds for service,” said sheriff’s Sgt. Bryan Golmitz. “(The victim) articulated a series of events to us to make us believe a crime was committed. We believe there was a crime and it was valid. We’re taking all the steps to make sure the community stays safe.”
The ACLU, however, thinks those steps included a dose of overkill.
“Assuming he was not doing any harassing or anything sexual, this seems to be an enormous overreaction and violation of (Emmer’s) constitutional rights,” said Michael Risher, staff attorney for ACLU of Northern California. “Simply hanging around, twiddling your thumbs is not a crime.”
Risher stressed he was only familiar with the facts presented in the original article, but questioned the validity of the arrest and hinted at a double standard.
“The problem with these loitering statutes is they are often used to pick on unpopular groups and people,” he said. “And it wouldn’t surprise me if it were his sex or age or appearance (that led to his arrest). If this were an elderly, very conservatively dressed woman talking to those children, I don’t think she would have been tossed in jail with a $100,000 bail.”
Golmitz, though, believes the judge agreed to increase Emmer’s bail because of “the deputies’ understanding of the victim’s complaint and the possibility of (Emmer’s) behavior continuing and endangering children in the area.”
One thing is certain, though – Golmitz, Risher and many web users agree Emmer’s actions were out of the ordinary.
“For the purposes of a children’s time event, (Emmer’s actions) don’t fit with his age bracket,” said Golmitz.
“Certainly, if I were in that situation with a child, I might leave or ask (Emmer) to stop talking to my child,” Risher said. “I don’t know if I can fault the parent for being uncomfortable.”
Victor Emmer could not be reached for comment Friday. ..more.. by Jim Ratajczak, The Telegraph
KY- Senate panel approves bills strengthening sex-abuse laws
Measures aimed at protecting kids
3-28-2008 Kentucky:
Bills that would toughen penalties against Internet predators, sexual abusers and those who fail to report sexual abusers were approved unanimously by the Senate Judiciary Committee yesterday and are expected to pass the full Senate.
Advocates for House Bills 367 and 211 said tougher penalties are needed in the wake of revelations about sexual abuse of children in churches and schools and predators' use of the Internet to harass and make sexual advances to minors.
"Children in our schools, youth sports leagues, 4-H, Scouts etc. deserve to be protected from people in positions of trust and authority," said Shannon Whelan of the group Protect Our Children KY, who applauded both bills.
John Scott, who was sexually abused by a priest in the Archdiocese of Louisville, said he is "relieved that the people are listening."
"We've been up here three years in a row," added Scott, citing previous efforts to strengthen the abuse laws. "It's been very difficult."
HB 211 would make felonies out of several categories of sex crimes against older minors -- offenses that are currently misdemeanors. By making them felonies, the prison sentences can be more severe, and there would be no time limit on when they could be prosecuted.
The bill would also impose progressively stronger penalties each time someone fails to report knowledge of sexual abuse to the authorities.
HB 367 was passed to ban a variety of crimes using new electronic technologies.
It prohibits using any communications system to entice a minor into a sexual offense, bars registered sex offenders from using social-networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook, requires the offenders to provide updated e-mail addresses to authorities and prohibits showing pornography to a minor via Webcam.
The bill also would allow authorities to seek the forfeiture of property used in such cybercrimes. And it would permit the prosecution of anyone soliciting sex from a person they believe to be a minor -- allowing police to arrange stings of predators in which adults pose as minors online.
The two measures are expected to be placed on the Senate's consent calendar for noncontroversial legislation. ..more.. by Peter Smith can be reached at (502) 582-4469. Reporter Deborah Yetter contributed to this story.
TRIBAL- Sovereignty issues plague Adam Walsh Act
3-28-2008 National:
WASHINGTON - Violence against women, domestic and sexual abuse are grim enough wherever they occur.
But in Indian country, according to accounts that have emerged from multiple sources over several years, the aftershock is often complicated by practical unpreparedness on the part of health care providers, jurisdictional limitations on police, and off-reservation doubts about the validity of referrals from tribal court and legal systems.
Now another shade of gray further complicates Native participation in a national sex offender registry that would let law enforcement know of a sex offender's presence in the often remote communities of Indian country. Congress has passed two laws that authorize national sex offender registries. One, the Violence Against Women Act, would establish a national tribal sex offender registry, as well as a related tribal registry of civil and criminal orders of protection issued by tribes and proximate jurisdictions.
The other national sex offender registry, under the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act, is not Native-specific and does not authorize a tribal orders-of-protection registry. But because it will assign tribal registration duties to states if Native governments and organizations do not respond timely to aggressive deadlines (so far federally unfunded), 198 tribes have agreed to establish their own registries. In addition, the Adam Walsh Act delegates implementation of the new law to Public Law 280 states - Minnesota, Wisconsin, Nebraska, Oregon, California and Alaska - where tribes are held to have compromised certain jurisdictional powers under proceedings.
Suffice to say that still more than sovereignty is at stake. The national tribal registry of VAWA is necessary ''because administrative barriers delayed or prevented the inclusion of tribal data on the National Order of Protection Registry and National Sex Offender Public Registry,'' which in turn hindered all-important access to state-administered criminal information links with the National Crime Information Center, according to a joint publication of the National Congress of American Indians and Sacred Circle National Resource Center to End Violence Against Native Women.
''The effectiveness and credibility of any database [in this case, of registered sex offenders and subjects of court orders of protection] depends on the timely entry of information and the ability to keep that information current and correct,'' the publication states. ''Delayed entry or inaccuracies of information can place a Native woman at immediate risk.''
Virginia Davis, associate counsel at NCAI, summarized a situation that hasn't changed in its essentials since March 3, when she spoke at a meeting of the NCAI National Task Force to End Sexual and Domestic Violence Against Women.
''Unfortunately, the Adam Walsh Act basically tells about half the tribes in the country that if they don't comply with these really onerous mandates that are in the law - that, again, don't really make sense for tribal communities - if the tribes fail to comply with those, then all of the tribe's authority to track and register and manage sex offenders on tribal lands will be given to the state,'' Davis said. ''So it raises some serious sovereignty concerns and we're continuing to really struggle with the Adam Walsh Act.
''It's a really costly law for tribes to implement. No money's been made available for it. The law passed in July of 2006. And here we are now at the beginning of 2008. And basically, you know, when Congress passes a law, then it goes to the executive agencies to really kind of interpret it and give you details, the guidance or the regulations on how you're going to implement that law, and the Department of Justice still hasn't finished their guidelines for the Adam Walsh Act implementation. ... Those guidelines will have the force of law and the tribes will have to comply with them, and we don't even know what they are yet.
''So the Adam Walsh Act is becoming a quagmire, a real challenge for Indian country that I think we're going to keep talking about for the next couple of years.''
Tribes must comply with AWA provisions by July 7, 2009. On a showing of significant effort, two one-year extensions can be provided under the law.
Some states have objected to AWA as an unfunded mandate of the federal government. At the March 3 meeting Robert Moore, a councilman of the Rosebud Sioux Tribe in South Dakota, said tribal and state interests on AWA are evolving in a helpful way. ..more.. by Jerry Reynolds / Indian Country Today
NJ- COUNCILMAN HOWELL ON SEX OFFENDER: "I DON'T CARE IF WE STOMP ON HIS CIVIL LIBERTIES"
3-28-2008 New Jersey:
Earlier this month, a letter was sent home with students in the Ramtown section of town alerting parents of a registered sex offender living on Arlyn Drive.
The Township Council now wants to know if even more can be done to help spread the word about sexual predators living within the town's borders.
"He had been arrested three different times now for child endangerment," said Councilman Mike Howell. "(The flier) had a picture of the guy, his car description and his license plate."
There are three schools serving the Ramtown area: Ramtown Elementary School, Greenville School and Middle School South, all on Ramtown-Greenville Road.
The councilman asked if the town has the authority to institute a wide-scale notification initiative alerting township residents of specific registered sex offenders. It's important for the entire town, as well as the immediate surrounding community to be aware of specific details regarding any individual living in the area, according to Howell.
"That way if somebody's at softball or baseball practice with their kid, and they see this car, they can call the police department and say, 'hey, this guy's not where he's supposed to be,'" said Howell. "Truly, I don't care if we stomp on his civil liberties. I truly don't."
Howell further recommended the town post a detailed description and recent photograph of any registered sex offenders on the township's municipal television station, Channel 77.
However, while on a personal level, Councilman Angela Dalton agrees wholeheartedly with Howell's strong anti-sex offender stance, as an attorney, she said there are legal obligations the town must still adhere to regardless of any personal emotions on the matter.
"I think we need to make sure that there is not any kind of violation of civil liberties that could cause us to incur liability to trouble," said Dalton. "I believe there are different grades (of sex offenders) so the public can go on the Web, where there is a Web site where you type in your address, and it will tell you who they are and give you their names and a picture."
Dalton encourages concerned residents to take the reins and seek out information via the Web, explaining that broadcasting blanket sex offender notification cannot legally be initiated under the jurisdiction of the municipality. Some of the more popular Webs ites for locating registered sex offenders near you home can found via the state police at www.state. nj.us/njsp/info/regsexoffend.html, or www. familywatchdog.us.
"Don't just take it for granted that you don't live near someone who's a danger to your children," said Dalton. "I do believe that for the same reasons that we can't link that Web site from our township Web site, we can't broadcast those people even though that information was already out there. It's about how to access it, and I don't think we can do that on TV."
With the sex offender's name, photo and personal description already included in the schools' letter sent home with the students, Howell questioned why the township couldn't just follow the schools' lead and utilize the same exact information to notify all of the town's residents.
However, notification from schools directly to its students and surrounding community members has different legal implications than a township-wide, municipally sponsored announcement, according to Township Attorney Ernest Bongiovanni.
"It (the schools' letter) wasn't coming from the township's official Web site or television station, which is a different form of media," said Bongiovanni.
Prior to becoming an attorney, Dalton worked as a law clerk where helped worked with various issues pertaining to the state's Megan's Law act and sex offender notification.
"The flier goes home to a group of students who live in a certain locality," she said. "It's my recollection that people who are within the immediate vicinity (of a registered sex offender) get actual letters from the police or schools. As you get further and further away from where this person is, you have less details and less ability to broadcast. I really don't think we can put it on TV." ..more.. by Keith Hagarty
NC- Judge to reconsider sex offender tracking
3-28-2008 North Carolina:
A Wake County judge is expected to decide soon whether he and others like him must wear a satellite waist belt and ankle bracelet even though they've finished serving their sentences.
Three men, all convicted more than once of child sex crimes, sat in the back of a Wake County courtroom Friday.
All are wearing a monitor on their belt and another on their ankle. And all three men are part of the recent law that forces some repeat offenders to wear satellite tracking devices.
Wake County Prosecutor Adam Moyers says the Legislature intended the law to be retroactive and include offenders who have already served their time and probation. The offenders say the law should not be retroactive.
Kyle Cornelius says it's keeping him from turning his life around. "When I go to work or something it starts beeping," Cornelius explained. "I might end up losing a job if this thing keeps beeping and stuff like that."
Cornelius was convicted of felony sexual assault in New Jersey in 1990. Fourteen years later he was convicted of sexual exploitation of a minor in Hoke County. He served a couple of years in prison and completed his probation. Then when the satellite tracking law took effect, he was forced to wear a device that monitors his every move -- including his lunchtime walk outside the courthouse.
At the same time, just a few blocks from the courthouse, Maureen Fontanes was taking an educational tour with their young daughters. She fears sexual predators and likes the tracking law unfair or not.
"Anything we can do to stop that kind of thing from going on or, at least the ones we know about, keep our eye on them - it's a good thing. Especially if they're back in the community," Fontanes said.
Fontanes hopes the judge will rule in favor of the most widespread use of satellite tracking devices because when it comes to repeat sex offenders she has now sympathy for repeat sex offenders.
Repeat sex offender, Kyle Cornelius expects that kind of response. "And, uh, but if you've done everything that you had to do and stuff, you know, going through the probation or whatever the case may be and if you know you're trying to do right or whatever then it shouldn't matter what anyone else says."
Wake Superior Court Judge Ripley Rand is expected to make his decision next week. ..more.. by Ed Crump
March 27, 2008
FL- Sex offender sues Lake Worth
3-27-2008 Florida:
A Lake Worth sex offender has sued the city, saying that he has been wrongfully barred from living legally in the townhome he bought in 2004 because he moved away for three months.
August Synuria, filed suit on today, his 60th birthday, asking that a judge declare the city's prohibition unconstitutional.
Lake Worth prohibits sex offenders from living within 1,500 feet of a school bus stop, day care center, park, playground or library. But there is an exception for sex offenders who established a permanent residence before Oct. 4, 2005, according to the lawsuit. Synuria bought his one-bedroom townhome on Lake Osborne Drive in April 2004.
That might have been the end of the story had Synuria not gotten married and moved to another county in August. He rented the home to an acquaintance, then moved back in October, less than three months after leaving.
When he returned, Synuria notified Lake Worth police and was told he would be arrested if he resumed living in the townhome, because as a registered sex offender he could not legally do so.
Synuria argues that the townhome is still his permanent residence. The city's actions, his lawsuit contends, "constitute a termination of plaintiff's 'grandfathered-in' rights and therefore, a forfeiture."
Lake Worth City Attorney Larry Karnes could not be reached for comment.
Synuria was convicted in 1994 of lewd and lascivious activity on, or in the presence of, a child under 16. The Florida Department of Law Enforcement lists his current address as suburban Boca Raton.
Local and state ordinances restricting where sex offenders can live in Florida and elsewhere have stirred debate, because in some cases there is almost no place an offender can live without breaking the law.
Synuria tried to quit-claim ownership of his property to a friend after he was told he would be arrested if he lived there again, according to his lawsuit. But his homeowners association voided the deal, saying that Synuria needed association approval first. For now, he still owns the home. ..more.. by LARRY KELLER, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
NY- 'A violation of trust'
3-27-2008 New York:
When it comes to teachers and students, there is no such thing as consensual sex, experts said Thursday.
The power differential is too exploitative in those sexual encounters, said Charol Shakeshaft, a former Hofstra University professor who now teaches educational leadership at Virginia Commonwealth University and is an expert on sexual abuse in schools.
"It's a violation of trust and professional boundaries," Shakeshaft said of a March 20 encounter Nassau police say happened between Heather Kennedy, 25, a math teacher at Wantagh High School, and a 16-year-old boy who is a student at the school.
Kennedy was arraigned Thursday on charges of statutory rape and endangering the welfare of a child. The age of sexual consent in New York state is 17, police said.
Even if the boy wasn't in Kennedy's class, Shakeshaft said the mere fact that he attended the same school indicates "sexual exploitation and bad judgment," she said.
And when the teacher is a woman and the student is a boy, the sensationalist aspects of these liaisons are magnified, Shakeshaft said.
"I believe that females get a lot more attention [in the media] because I think it adds another dimension," she said. "People don't seem to think it's child abuse then."
It's a double standard fueled by popular perceptions of older women with younger men, according to Mike Lew, a Brookline, Mass., psychotherapist who has treated and written about survivors of childhood sexual abuse.
"We've been very slow to accept the fact that boys and girls are abused by both men and women," Lew said in an interview after the Feb. 25 arrest of Maria Commins, a Greenport teacher's aide who was charged with raping her son's 15-year-old friend.
"Boys are supposed to be little men," Lew said. "And men are supposed to be up for sex with women under any circumstance. If a boy is abused by a woman, if any part of it was pleasurable ... even if part of that excitement is fear, it tends not to get defined as abuse."
Female offenders often target younger men for a "sense of power," said psychologist Mic Hunter, author of "Abused Boys: The Neglected Victims of Sexual Abuse."
But some offenders don't admit their actions were abusive: Commins told police that she and her victim were in love, and Seattle teacher Mary Kay LeTourneau, 43, married her former sixth-grade pupil after she served 71/2 years in prison on charges that she had raped him.
"They believe they're victims or they're equals," said Hollida Wakefield, a psychologist in Northfield, Minn., who has treated sex offenders and victims. "It's hard for them to comprehend that it's criminal." ..more.. by SOPHIA CHANG AND CHRISTINE ARMARIO
IA- Iowa Woman Jailed For Violating Sex Offender Rules
Shows everthing that is wrong with these laws! The laws ignore today's circumstances and rehabilitative efforts of registrants. The laws focus ONLY on the point of the crime which can be decades ago. SEE ALSO
Family Needs Place To Live
3-27-2008 Iowa:
ATLANTIC, Iowa -- Iowa's sex offender residency law has landed an Atlantic woman back in jail.
Jennifer Lower was convicted of a misdemeanor sex offense in Ohio seven years ago. After moving to Iowa, and then moving her family to a town with no schools or day cares -- which she can't live near under Iowa law -- she's learned that she is still in violation of the law.
From the Cass County Jail, Lower, 29, said she's frustrated. Lower is a married mother of three. She already moved her family to try to comply with Iowa's sex-offender residency law that bans sex offenders from living within 2,000 feet of a school or day care. She said she can't find a home that complies.
"It's not fair. My rights are basically gone, it seems like," Lower said.
Forced out of Atlantic, Lower and her family moved 5 miles west to Marne, Iowa. There are no schools or day cares in Marne, so Lower said she thought she and her family were safe.
Then Marne passed a new ordinance, making it illegal for sex offenders to live within 2,000 feet of a park or school bus stop. Lowers' home was a couple blocks from the park and less than a block from a bus stop, so once again, a court ordered Lower to move.
She refused and a judge put her back in jail.
"My landlord don't even think I'm a threat," Lower said.
This time, she's lost her children, who are now in foster care.
"The only thing I need to get my kids back is have a stable home," Lower said.
Cass County Attorney Daniel Feistner said Lower's sex crime was a misdemeanor and she may not be much of a threat to the community, but he said he has to enforce the law consistently.
"Unfortunately, as a prosecutor, I don't have the luxury of looking at her individually and say I can apply the law to her or not to her and to someone else," Feistner said.
The Iowa Legislature has discussed revising the law to focus on true predators, but no revisions are expected any time soon.
To get out of jail, Lower must find another new place to live.
"Hopefully, somebody will see this and help us find a house or something so I can be with my family," Lower said.
The judge sentenced Lower to 30 days in jail and told her that if she finds a suitable place to live, he'll review her sentence and possibly let her out early.
She is due back in court on Thursday. ..more.. by KETV7
MI- Lawyer says polygraph casts doubt on ID
3-27-2008 Michigan:
Accused killer Alexander Letkemann took and passed a polygraph test the results of which his attorney believes proves he was never in a Canton hardware store two days before the murder of 26-year-old Daniel Sorensen.
Letkemann, 18, of Westland and 17-year-old Jean Pierre Orlewicz of Plymouth Township are accused of luring Sorensen, an acquaintance of theirs from River Rouge, to a Canton Township garage and killing him Nov. 7. Prosecutors say the pair then beheaded Sorensen and burned his body in an attempt to impede identification.
Orlewicz, a Canton High School student, and Letkemann, a former Livonia Churchill student, face an April 7 trial date on charges of first-degree murder, mutilation of a corpse and felony murder. The latter charge, originally dismissed by 35th District Court Judge Michael Gerou at the preliminary hearing, was reinstated by Wayne County Circuit Court Judge Annette Berry, who called it a "matter for the jury to decide."
At their preliminary hearing in 35th District Court in November, Lucy Heenan, the store manager at a Canton ACO Hardware store, identified Letkemann as someone she saw in the aisle containing hatchets and torches.
According to police reports, Heenan told Canton police she "couldn't be 100 percent sure" it was Letkemann she saw in the store, and later admitted she may have recognized him from media accounts of the crime.
At the preliminary exam, Heenan denied making those statements.
In a motion asking Berry to suppress Heenan's testimony, Raymond Cassar, Letkemann's attorney, called Heenan's identification "suspect" and asked Berry to suppress it, based on Heenan's statements and the results of the private polygraph test administered by Leonard West of West Polygraph and Consulting in Farmington.
During that test, West asked Letkemann if he had driven Orlewicz to the ACO and whether he had himself gone into the store. Letkemann, according to Cassar, answered "no" to all questions.
In a letter to Cassar, West wrote, "It is the opinion of this examiner, based upon the examination given, that the subject told the TRUTH to the above relevant questions."
Cassar wouldn't comment on the test because of the gag order continued by Berry on attorneys and law enforcement officials.
However, in his brief to support the motion, Cassar wrote, "Ms. Heenan's identification of (Letkemann) was suspect at best due to the statements she made during her identification."
Prosecutors reportedly declined to administer a polygraph of their own to Letkemann, and Berry denied the motion to suppress Heenan's identification.
While the polygraph does nothing to determine Letkemann's guilt in the murder, it could be used, sources say, to refute premeditation on Letkemann's part. ..more.. by Brad Kadrich, OBSERVER STAFF WRITER
IN- UPDATE- Booksellers incensed over sexual content law
Critics say state effort to target adult material casts too wide a net
3-27-2008 Indiana:
A new state law that requires sellers of adult material to register with the state has Hoosier bookstore owners fuming about government censorship and threatening a legal challenge.
"This lumps us in with businesses that sell things that you can't even mention in a family newspaper," said Ernie Ford, owner of Fine Print Book Store in Greencastle.
Ford was talking about House Enrolled Act 1042, which Gov. Mitch Daniels signed into law last week. Ford was one of 15 independent Indiana booksellers who signed a letter last week urging Daniels to veto the legislation.
The new law that takes effect July 1 requires businesses that sell sexually explicit material to pay a $250 fee and register with the secretary of state, which would then pass the information to municipal or county officials so they can monitor the businesses for potential violations of local ordinances.
The bill was aimed specifically at helping counties that do not have zoning ordinances track businesses selling sexually explicit material, including videos, magazines and books, said Sen. Brent Steele, R-Bedford, who was a co-sponsor of the legislation.
Steele said the bill's author, Rep. Terry Goodin, D-Austin, was targeting adult stores popping up in rural areas along interstates in Southern Indiana. Goodin could not be reached Tuesday for comment.
Jane Jankowski, the governor's spokeswoman, said in a statement issued Tuesday that Daniels' office has no record of receiving the letter from booksellers.
"(The bill) received strong support in both houses; no complaints were brought to our attention as it worked its way through the legislative process," she said.
Steele said he believes bookstore owners are getting worked up over nothing.
The law does not apply to businesses that sell sexually explicit material on or before June 30; it applies only to new businesses, those that relocate or businesses that begin offering such material after that date.
"I just don't think that their concern is legitimate," Steele said.
But groups representing state and national booksellers say the law casts its net too wide. A legal scholar agrees, calling it overly broad and so ambiguous that it may violate constitutional rights.
"The way we read this bill, if you stock a single book with sexual content -- even a novel or a book about sex education -- you will have to register as a business that sells sexually explicit material," said Chris Finan, president of American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression.
"This is just outrageous from our standpoint, and we believe it is a violation of the First Amendment."
While the law does not prohibit stores from selling a book with sexual content, he said, it has a chilling effect that could force sellers to limit the scope of their offerings or get out of the business rather than being placed on a state list of businesses that sell sexually explicit works.
Finan said his group will ask the Media Coalition -- a New York-based group that defends Americans' First Amendment right to produce and sell books, movies, magazines, recordings, DVDs, videotapes and video games, as well as the public's right to have access to the broadest possible range of opinion and entertainment -- to take legal action to overturn the legislation.
A decision by the coalition on whether to enter the fight is expected by mid-April, he said.
Finan added that the association is not aware of similar laws in any other states. If it goes unchallenged in Indiana, he said, other states might try to enact similar regulations.
"I think this is very hypocritical," said Elizabeth Barden, owner of Big Hat Books on the Northside. "On the one hand, we feel a need to censor ourselves, while on the other hand, we are spending our tax dollars to free the hearts and minds of the Iraqi people."
Barden said the law could potentially cover "just about any coming-of-age novel and books on health, hygiene and human sexuality."
Henry Karlson, a professor at Indiana University School of Law-Indianapolis and a First Amendment expert, said he sees several potential flaws in the law.
One is the threshold it cites for having to file with the state. It relies on a statute that describes sexually explicit material that can be viewed as "harmful" to minors, including material that "appeals to the prurient interest in sex of minors."
"The problem is, minors have an interest in sex, prurient or otherwise," Karlson said, "and how do you distinguish what is normal and what is prurient?"
Another provision of the statute requires registration if a business carries an item when "considered as a whole, it lacks serious literary, artistic, political or scientific value for minors." While such a definition is pretty clear for adults, Karlson said, that is not the case when it involves minors.
"I can see some communities where people might think some of the literary classics did not meet that standard for minors," he said.
Karlson said he thinks businesses may have trouble knowing whether to register.
"There's this huge gray area," he said. "If you register, you get lumped in with businesses that sell pornography and other sexually explicit material on some state list, and if you don't, you could face a fine or charges." ..more.. by Tim Evans
Supreme Court Hears Case Involving Mentally Ill Defendants Representing Themselves
Given the belief, whether true or not, that sex offenders are incurable, will this case affect them? See also today's Washington Post: High Court Weighs Self-Representation
3-27-2008 National:
When mentally ill defendants are found competent to stand trial, does that also mean they are competent enough to represent themselves in court?
The Supreme Court struggled with that question Wednesday during an oral argument that weighed the Sixth Amendment right to self-representation against a state's interest in not having trials "descend into farce." Along the way, some lawyer jokes were also cracked.
The issue in the case Indiana v. Edwards is whether a state may impose a higher standard of competence for self-representation than the fairly minimal test for deciding if a defendant is competent to stand trial. The Indiana Supreme Court ruled that Ahmad Edwards, diagnosed as a schizophrenic, was denied his right to represent himself at a 2005 trial for a department store robbery and shooting.
The trial judge had determined that while Edwards met the standard for competence to stand trial -- he understood the proceedings and could assist his lawyer -- he did not have the additional competence to represent himself.
Indiana, backed by the Justice Department, argue that in the interest of protecting both the reality and appearance of fairness and dignity of the courts, states should be allowed to set higher standards for self-representation.
"If the public sees the spectacle of a mentally ill defendant ... attempt to communicate to the jury on his own in a very delusional way, it really casts the justice system into disrepute," Deputy U.S. Solicitor General Michael Dreeben told the justices.
But Mark Stancil, the lawyer for Edwards, was just as adamant that a defendant declared competent to stand trial should be allowed to handle his or her defense.
"The expressed premise of the Sixth Amendment and of our adversarial system generally is that the defense belongs to the accused and not to the state," said Stancil of D.C.'s Robbins, Russell, Englert, Orseck, Untereiner & Sauber.
Stancil said states have adequate tools, including appointment of standby counsel, to handle problems that arise.
Justice David Souter challenged Stancil on that point, asserting that "by the time standby counsel is required to take over, the damage is done."
Souter's comment, similar to concerns voiced by Justice Stephen Breyer, suggested they might favor a higher standard for self-representation in the interest of fairness.
"We've heard lots of complaints from trial judges," Breyer said. "Very disturbed people are being deprived and end up in prison because they're disturbed rather than because they're guilty."
Justice Antonin Scalia took the opposite view, arguing that if a competent defendant decides to represent himself, any resulting taint "would be his own fault."
Rather than a judge barring a defendant from self-representation before the trial starts, Scalia said, why not "wait to see whether he's going to pull it off or not?"
If a defendant can be allowed to plead guilty, Scalia added, he or she should also be allowed to make the less serious decision in favor of self-representation.
As the justices compared the attributes of self-led defense and lawyer-led representation, some jokes were probably inevitable.
When Indiana Solicitor General Thomas Fisher suggested a test that would allow judges to bar self-representation for those who "cannot communicate coherently with the court or jury," Scalia mulled the phrase. "Cannot communicate coherently? ... I sometimes think that the lawyers cannot communicate coherently." Spectators laughed.
When Stancil noted that his client understood voir dire and other trial basics, Justice Anthony Kennedy blurted out, "There are all kinds of nuts who could get 90 percent on the bar exam." Laughter ensued, but it appeared some in the audience thought his choice of words was inappropriate.
At another point, Kennedy also said it was unrealistic to believe that some disturbed defendants would obey judges' orders to keep their arguments on track.
"They don't communicate," Kennedy said. "It's two ships passing in the night or in the case of some defendants, about five ships passing in the night." ..more.. by Law.com
OH- Female sex offenders target kids, helpless
3-27-2008 Ohio:
Sex offender.
Those words usually bring to mind a picture of a domineering man who pushes himself on a woman against her will.
But women are also capable of committing such offenses. In Erie County alone there are five registered female sex offenders. That number may seem small compared to their male counterparts -- 153 in the county -- but the crimes aren't any less severe.
Three of those women were convicted of offenses against children, said Erie County Sheriff's Capt. Steven Westcott.
Three of the women were also convicted of sexual battery, meaning they abused a position of trust with the victim, Westcott added. Most of those women are also Tier III sex offenders, or the most severe offenders by classification, and must register with the local sheriff's office for life.
In 2005 about 140,000 men were incarcerated for sex crimes nationwide, compared to 1,500 women, according to statistics gathered by the U.S. Department of Justice Center for Sex Offender Management.
In Ohio, there are 26,410 registered male sex offenders and 710 females, said Jennifer Brindisi, a spokeswoman for the Ohio Bureau of Criminal Identification and Investigation.
"Just like male offenders, there is a range of offenses that are quite common for female offenders," said Anna Aylward, program administrator for Washington State Department of Corrections.
Many sex crimes committed by females are against children and teenagers, Aylward said.
"There are people who are with children for less than good reasons," she said.
Just this month Sandusky resident Heather L. Fox, 34, was indicted on charges of unlawful sexual conduct with a minor.
Fox is accused of having sex with a 15-year-old boy, police said.
The reason for the crimes can differ for women compared to men. Men often commit the crimes out of sexual desire.
Women, on the other hand, may act out from substance abuse issues or because they, too, were victimized at one time, Aylward said.
"They tend to be less categorically violent offenses, but that doesn't mean to that person it's any less violent," she said. "Any time you're assaulted that's traumatic and awful, and especially so when it's someone that you know."
The media have reported on cases of women, often teachers, involved with juvenile boys. Those cases are not the norm for all female-committed sex crimes, but may just attract more attention.
"I think those are just sexy cases," Aylward said.
Other times women will act out sexual crimes with their partner. For example, a woman may help a man commit an offense against a child or simply be held liable for not stopping the action, Aylward said.
Treatment for female sex offenders varies but can include group therapy, participation in motivation groups, learning to identify future behavior and having a woman admit she has a problem, Aylward said.
Nationwide there are more than 300 such programs for female sex offenders, the Center for Sex Offender Management reported. ..more.. by HOLLY ABRAMS
NH- N.H. Civil Liberties Union sues Dover over sex offender ordinance
3-27-2008 New Hampshire:
CONCORD — The New Hampshire Civil Liberties Union sued the City of Dover on Wednesday, alleging that its ordinance banning registered sex offenders from living within 2,500 feet of a school or day-care center is unconstitutional, subjecting them to “arbitrary, capricious and unreasonable restrictions” on their movement.
“This is the first case of its kind in the state,” said Barbara Keshen, staff attorney for the New Hampshire Civil Liberties Union.
The suit was filed in Strafford County Superior Court in Dover on behalf of Richard Jennings, 41, who had pleaded guilty to felonious sexual assault in 2000 and received a sentence of two to four years at the New Hampshire State Prison.
At the time of the offense, the victim was 15, and thus Jennings is required to register as a sex offender for life.
In October, Jennings, his girlfriend and her 13-year-old daughter, moved from their apartment in Portsmouth to a more affordable apartment in Dover. When Jennings went to register his new address, as he is required by law to do, he was charged with being in violation of the city code. A hearing on that violation is scheduled for June 3 in Dover District Court.
Phone messages left at home for Dover Mayor Scott Myers and City Attorney Allan Krans were not immediately returned Wednesday night. The City Council was meeting Wednesday night; Keshen said she had not yet heard from anyone representing the city.
The 2,500-foot restricted area “encompasses virtually the entire downtown area of Dover, where all of the affordable housing is located,” the lawsuit says. The enforcement of the code “will serve to effectively banish Richard Jennings from the City of Dover because its geographic restrictions substantially impair his ability to find a residence there.”
As a result, Jennings can no longer live at the Dover address and is now living with his parents. If he were to return, he’s subject to a $500 fine for a first offense, then a $1,000 fine for subsequent offenses.
Keshen said there are six other ordinances in New Hampshire that restrict sex offenders from residing within a 2,500-foot radius of a school or day-care center; there are others with lesser distances.
Jennings, a carpet layer, has suffered, “and will continue to suffer, irreparable injury, in that he has been and will continue to be, deprived of his constitutional rights not to be subject to additional or greater punishment than allowed by law at the time the criminal act was committed,” the lawsuit said.
Jennings served his time and is at a low risk to re-offend, the lawsuit said. He has not been charged with any other sexual offense and he successfully completed an outpatient course of sex-offender counseling, the suit said.
The ordinance applies to all offenders across the board whether they are at high risk or not, Keshen said. Further, she said, the law diverts attention and resources away from those people who are the most likely to offend against a child — a family member or trusted friend of the family.
“If you really wanted to do something that would be effective in controlling sex offenders then you would maybe put them on GPS systems, you’d give them specialized treatment,” Keshen said. “You’d do assessment of future dangerousness upon release from prison; there’d be categories of risk; there’d be pre-release planning relative to housing and employment and all of that involves funding and it involves a development of expertise,” she said.
Keshen said when Dover’s code went into effect in 2005, the city had 45 registered sex offenders. Last year, there were 35, so some of them either no longer live in Dover or have been discouraged from registering, she said.
The suit comes as state lawmakers are working on a bill that would better identify and track those listed in the state’s sex offender registry. ..more.. by Kathy McCormack
March 26, 2008
In Memory of All the Dead Fathers
What would drive a sane, loving father to take his own life?
3-26-2008 National:
I want for you to use your imagination for a few minutes. Pretend you are an average guy, say 30 years old, married with two children under 9 years old. You've been with the same woman for around 10 years. You've had your ups and downs, just like any other married couple, but things seem to be relatively okay.
One day your wife says she's leaving you. She is taking the kids and wants a divorce. You are shocked; you didn't see this coming. In time you accept the inevitability of the divorce, given the current no-fault divorce system that grants anyone a divorce for any reason. You know that you won't be with your wife anymore, but at the very least you are going to continue to be as active in your children's lives as you've always been.
Then she gets a lawyer and sues for sole custody of the children. You respond by retaining your own attorney and the legal battle begins. The entire process of divorce wears on you emotionally. You have lost the security of your family unit, your finances are suffering and you are sure to lose considerably more, your social circle shuns you out of a desire to stay out of the divorce matter and your ability to concentrate at work declines. This is the hardest thing you've ever been through.
In the midst of this acrimony, without warning you receive the most unbelievable news of your life.
You wife has accused you of sexually molesting your 4 year old daughter.
She has obtained an emergency ex-parte order prohibiting you from having any contact with your children while you are investigated for child sex abuse. What??? How did this happen? How could this happen? This isn't some stranger making a bogus charge - this is your wife! She knows you better than anyone on earth. She knows damn well that you would never hurt your own child - or any other child for that matter!
At first you feel angry. "Nobody is going to believe this crap", you tell yourself. You've gone online and read government statistics that state that nearly 77% of all child sex abuse allegations made by a divorcing wife against her husband during a custody dispute are false. Surely everyone will see her evil accusation for what it is - a legal stratagem to win full custody of the kids. But this case isn't as open and shut as you first thought. You soon realize that you are in real trouble.
Immediately you find that the very accusation of child sex abuse carries such power that you are instantly put on the defensive. You started out by seeking the support of family and friends, but now even some of them seem to be treating you differently. You become obsessed with trying to prove your innocence, but quickly learn the futility of trying to prove a negative. Ask an innocent politician in public whether or not he still beats his wife. No matter how he responds, the seed of doubt has been sewn in the public's mind.
In the meantime you learn through your attorney that your little girl has been subjected to invasive physical examinations by a doctor using a rape kit. Her vagina has been examined and she has been subjected to tests for STDs that you might have given her. You can only imagine how frightened she must have been as a stranger in a white jacket inserted things inside of her. The tests come back negative. There is no evidence of any physical abuse. But rather than confirm that your daughter was not molested, the doctor issues a written evaluation stating that while there is no evidence, abuse cannot be ruled out.
Your daughter is then subjected to a series of interrogations by a social worker or other investigator whose job it is to find out what you did to her. You are presumed to be guilty. Your daughter was given anatomically correct dolls and told that they represent her and daddy. The investigator then watched how she played with the dolls to decide if her play time can be used to substantiate the claim of abuse against you. You pray that your daughter doesn't exhibit any interest in the strange body parts on the dolls - because any subtle or innocent behavior during play time might be enough to condemn you. They aren't investigating whether you are innocent or not. They are looking for something to use against you.
You feel anger and hate toward your wife for doing this to your daughter. Why doesn't anyone see that what she is doing to your little girl is the real child abuse? Your older child has also been paid a few visits from investigators. "Has daddy ever touched your penis?" God only knows what else they have put into your child's mind. Even if you do get to see your children again, they will probably never think of you the same again.
Today your boss called you into his office to ask you why your work is suffering. You don't dare tell him, but it's too late. Word has already spread throughout the office. Your boss tells you that you are out of sick time (which you had secretly been using to cover for your court visits) and places you on a disciplinary action plan. Everyone at the office looks at you differently. Those fleeting glances cause you such pain. You thought they knew you better than this, but you accept that some of them have come to believe that you are a child molester. So much for your future at this company.
Your attorney paints a grim picture. Jail sentencing for child molesters can be longer than it is for murderers (and you know what they do to convicted child molesters in prison). It looks like you are going to have to mortgage your home to pay for this protracted legal fight. You also face the prospect of a felony sex offender charge and lifetime membership on the federal sex offender registry when you get out of prison. Any hope of a productive career in a respectable profession may be over.
You have lost your wife and children. Her parents hate you for a crime you didn't commit. You have no support network left, but people are coming out of the woodwork to slather your wife with words of comfort and sympathy - and she is gloating. You haven't had a full night of sleep in months because of frequent night terrors. You are full of anxiety and depression. Your tried drinking, but it didn't help. Prayer might have helped, but you feel bitterness toward God for letting such a travesty of justice take place. You are totally alone.
The dark thoughts won't go away. Someone invisible keeps whispering them in your ear: Nobody likes you or believes you. You are going to prison for a long time and will probably be sexually abused by violent criminals. Your children think you are a sexual deviant and never want to see you again.
You think of the children you will never see again. You are dead to them. You pick up the gun and pull the trigger.
All because a vindictive wife chose to use the most devilish of legal tactics to beat you in a custody battle....
Dear reader, this account really happened. It was not a piece of fiction. Men's lives are being destroyed by the divorce industry. Nothing hurts a man more than having his children torn from his life when he has done nothing wrong. The use of the false abuse allegation is the most sinister legal tactic used today.
The story above is, sadly, not unique. Men throughout America are committing suicide, unable to bear the humiliation, shame and loss of companionship of their children that results from false child abuse allegations.
This week such a man was buried in Missouri. His name was Shawn W. O' Banion and his story is similar to those of other men that have been victimized by the family court system. His marriage to his former wife, Angela C. Meyer, ended in divorce. To win sole custody of the children, Angela filed multiple false abuse allegations against Shawn. Even though the abuse charges were not substantiated, they were enough for Judge Kathryn Elizabeth Davis to prohibit Shawn from seeing his children. Judges are elected officials and crave reelection. Many judges take a "better safe than sorry" attitude toward abuse allegation cases to ensure that mistakes don't come back to haunt them politically. Davis, apparently, cared more for her career than for Shawn or his children.
I never spoke with Shawn personally, but I recall reading about his situation in a father's rights discussion group that we both participated in. Caring men tried to help Shawn with his case, but the dismay and depression were too great for him to deal with. He took his life a week ago. His second wife will never see Shawn again and his unborn child will never know what a good father he was. This should never have happened. ..more.. by Jake Morphonios is a civil rights advocate and North Carolina State Coordinator for Fathers 4 Justice - US. Jake's political opinions do not represent those of Fathers 4 Justice. Neither Jake nor F4J-US provide legal advice or assistance with individual cases.
IN- Indiana booksellers predict lawsuit over explicit material law
Indiana uses "sex" for income! Isn't there a word for that? I wonder, is the Bible sexually explicit?
3-26-2008 Indiana:
A new Indiana law that requires businesses selling sexually explicit materials to register with the secretary of state could face a legal challenge, a national group of booksellers says.
American Booksellers Foundation for Free Expression President Chris Finan said the group plans to ask the Media Coalition, a New York-based group that defends First Amendment rights, to take legal action to overturn the law that was signed last week by Gov. Mitch Daniels.
The Media Coalition is expected to decide by mid-April whether to take legal action, Finan said.
"The way we read this bill, if you stock a single book with sexual content, even a novel or a book about sex education, you will have to register as a business that sells sexually explicit material," Finan told The Indianapolis Star for a story posted its Web page Tuesday.
"This is just outrageous from our standpoint and we believe it is a violation of the First Amendment."
The law, which takes effect July 1, requires bookstores to pay a $250 fee and register with the state if they sell sexually explicit books or movies. That information would then be shared with local officials, who could monitor businesses for violations of local regulations.
State Sen. Brent Steele, R-Bedford, who co-sponsored the legislation, said it was aimed at helping counties without zoning ordinances track adult businesses. The law does not apply to businesses that sold sexually explicit material on or before June 30; it applies only to new businesses, those that relocate or businesses that begin offering such material after that date.
"I just don't think that their concern is legitimate," Steele said.
But Finan said the law's definition of what is sexually explicit is too broad and could include popular fiction, photography books that include nudity and books about human sexuality.
The law does not prohibit stores from selling books with sexual content, but Finan said it could have a chilling effect on bookstores as they try to avoid being placed on the state list.
Henry Karlson, a professor at Indiana University Law School-Indianapolis, said it could be difficult for businesses to know whether to register.
"There’s this huge gray area," he said. "If you register, you get lumped in with businesses that sell pornography and other sexually explicit material on some state list, and if you don’t, you could face a fine or charges."
Finan said the association opposes the law on behalf of mainstream bookstores, not shops that specialize in sex-related products. A group of about 15 local and national booksellers sent a letter to Daniels urging him to veto the legislation, but he signed it into law March 19.
Jane Jankowski, the governor’s spokeswoman, said in a statement Tuesday that Daniels’ office has no record of receiving the letter from booksellers.
The association is not aware of similar laws in any other states, Finan said. If the law goes unchallenged in Indiana, other states might copy it, he said.
"This is not a close call," Finan said. "This is something that has to be challenged." ..more.. by SB Tribune
Law Can't Prevent Underage Sex
3-26-2008 National:
In my last two columns, I discussed the cases of young people who were placed on sex-offender registries because their sexual partners were below the age of consent. For the rest of their lives, any neighbor or employer who looks them up on the Web will be led to believe they are pedophiles.
This raises many questions, among them: What is the right age of consent?
The legal age is different everywhere. In Yemen, it's 9, although you have to be married. In Mexico, you can legally have sex as early as 12. In the United States, the age varies by state, ranging from 16 to 18.
For "20/20" I spoke to an 18-year-old boy who had sexual relations with a girl four years younger. Isn't that taking advantage of a 14-year-old? I asked.
"I wouldn't think so. I thought I was really gonna have a relationship."
What if she were 13?
"I really can't answer that question ... because she wasn't."
What if she were 12?
"Oh, heck no. There's a point where you draw the line somewhere."
But where? The law is at odds with what goes on in real life. The Centers for Disease Control reports that a quarter of America's teens say they had sex before they were 16. Since no state's age of consent is lower, millions of Americans must be breaking the law.
Some groups, like the Family Research Council, say the laws should be stricter.
"We oppose efforts to lower [the age of consent]," Peter Sprigg, its vice president for policy, told me.
But 17-year-olds are still going to have sex.
"Well, they are. But I think it's a legitimate goal of public policy to discourage that."
Making it illegal discourages it?
"There will be some deterrent effect presumably. That's what all of our laws do."
"The idea that we criminalize 14-year-olds' having oral sex or sexual intercourse with 16-year-olds, that's a horrible solution to a subtle and complex issue."
Klein calls this criminalization of sexual activity America's War on Sex.
"Telling a kid just say no, and expecting them to not have sex, that's like telling somebody who's depressed, have a nice day, and expecting that to lift their depression."
Some states created exemptions to their statutory rape laws for kids who are close in age. They're called "Romeo and Juliet" exemptions because Romeo and Juliet were close in age. But I bet the legislators would be surprised to learn that Shakespeare's Juliet was only 13.
Klein says, "We trust 15-year-olds to make decisions all the time. We give them access to credit cards. We let 16- and 17-year-olds drive cars. The idea that somebody who's behind the wheel of a car can't make good sexual decisions, I think, is more about our anxiety about sex than it is about any clear thinking about 17-year-olds."
But the Family Research Council's Sprigg will have none of this. "The focus should be on telling teens that sex should be saved for marriage. The benefits of waiting are enormous."
If they're too young, why did God make them biologically ready? I asked him.
"Well, in some ancient cultures, it would have been perfectly appropriate for young people to marry and start a family as soon as their bodies were biologically ready for reproduction. But we live in a very different culture, and young people today need more time before marriage, but they don't need sex before marriage."
Whatever the law says, there's no proof that age-of-consent laws deter sex before marriage. Many kids don't even know what the age of consent is.
Something is very wrong when young people, doing what hundreds of thousands of other kids do, are condemned for life on sex registries next to rapists and real pedophiles. There's no justice in that. ..more.. by John Stossel
John Stossel is an award-winning news correspondent and author of Myths, Lies, and Downright Stupidity: Get Out the Shovel--Why Everything You Know is Wrong.
A Closer Look At Sex Crimes
1-31-2008 National:
A six-year-old preschooler reported that she had been sexually abused in the school restroom and that glue had been put in her private areas. Two doctors verified vaginal trauma and the presence of glue. The abusers, the child said. were two of her female classmates of the same age.
These children were questioned, claimed that they had not done it and that they had no glue. Authorities were investigating but had little to say. What they did say implied that something was amiss. There appeared to be no link with these accused children. And then silence. There have been no further news reports and the original story was removed from the online site.
We know that there were some surface injuries and glue in the vaginal area. What are the possibilities? Could a child do such a thing to herself? After watching a taped interview I have to wonder if this was staged by the mother for unknown reasons. And, if the six year olds are guilty, what action should be taken? If you were a parent of any one of these 3 children how would you want to see it resolved?
Elsewhere, two high school girls took compromising photos of themselves and sent them to everyone in their phone books. Some students deleted it and others sent it to everyone on their phonebooks.
After 2 months of circulation these photos crossed state borders, appeared on some elite college campuses and beyond. Some serious laws have been broken and, if the Feds were to step in, this would be the biggest bust in history for child porn. One high school would be wiped out and the long arm of the law would reach out in all directions.
We all know what the law is concerning child porn. Added to possession there is also the element of manufacturing and distribution. Every student who received these images is a sex offender and can be prosecuted as such. The law is very concise on this issue and no exceptions are allowed. We either abide by the laws we passed or we ignore them. Selective prosecution smacks of corruption.
This puts us in a position that we had not anticipated. We either overlook this or throw the book at everyone involved that can be raked and scraped up. One image is worth 5 years in federal prison. All of these young people had two images.
All of this started with 2 young ladies in Allentown, PA. but the same laws apply to all.At least that is the way it is supposed to work. There is no wiggle room for unexpected or unusual circumstances. I don´t know what the correct answer is to this problem but abiding by the law has always worked for me. The people of Allentown may have learned to vote only for things that would be fair if directed at them or their children. Maybe this is the place where intelligent voting takes root and spreads with the same swiftness as the child porn. ..more.. by Rebecca Lee
WI- Sex offenders seek computers back
3-26-2008 Wisconsin:
ST. PETER, Minn. (AP) - Four people being treated in Minnesota's sex offender program in St. Peter and Moose Lake are suing to get their computers back.
The inmates have filed a lawsuit in Nicollet County say the state's removal of their personal computers violates their rights.
Staff members say it has become too hard to search the computers for material the inmates aren't supposed to have. Nancy Johnston is the deputy administrator of the sex offender program at St. Peter. She says in an affidavit that computer searches in the past have found things like pornography, names of children, maps of the St. Peter facility grounds and other restricted items.
In one case, Johnston said a weapon was found hidden in a computer casing. ..more.. by WKBT
March 25, 2008
FL- Dozens Of Sex Offenders Registered As Homeless In Orange County
More laws that make ZERO sense. I challenge anyone to explain how making homeless folks register more often (even daily) is going to protect children? Those seeking such laws need to be removed from office as they have lost the ability to think rationally, hence are not able to protect anyone!
3-25-2008 Florida:
ORANGE COUNTY, Fla. -- Channel 9 has discovered there are more than 36 sex offenders registered as homeless in Orange County.
Most of them don't have an address listed at all on the state's public sex offender database. Others just use an intersection or list the bridge they regularly sleep under.
Police say they treat homeless offenders like any other, visiting them regularly at the locations they claim they're staying, but some folks who live in those areas say that's not enough.
"Otherwise, it makes it very easy for a sexual predator just to be loose and be in places like this where you have a lot of children," said Charles Collins, a grandfather.
The Orange County Sheriff's Office is currently pushing for a new law that would force transient offenders to register more often than those with regular addresses. ..more.. by WFTV.com
MO- Gov. Blunt Seeks Access to FBI’s Criminal History Reports To Protect Missouri Children
3-24-2008 Missouri:
JEFFERSON CITY—Gov. Matt Blunt is seeking access to the FBI’s criminal history record information under the authority of the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006 to provide greater protection for Missouri’s most vulnerable citizens, especially children. The governor sent a letter to David Cuthbertson, Section Chief of the Programs Development Section, Criminal Justice Information Services Division of the FBI, seeking access to this database.
“By granting access to FBI criminal history record information under the Adam Walsh Law, the Missouri Department of Social Services will have access to state and national criminal history information when investigating or responding to reports of child abuse, neglect or exploitation,” Gov. Blunt wrote. “This would ensure my administration possesses as much information as possible to further protect children who are entrusted to our care.”
“In addition, we are requesting approval to process fingerprint-based civil background checks under the same authority,” Gov. Blunt continued. “By granting this request, state educational agencies as well as private elementary and secondary schools, will have added resources to make sound employment decisions. This would allow for greater protection of Missouri’s most vulnerable citizens.”
Sections 151 and 153 of the Adam Walsh Act provide access to FBI criminal history record information for governmental social service agencies with child protection responsibilities, child welfare agencies, and public and private elementary and secondary schools as well as state and local educational agencies.
Under Section 151, states are authorized to provide governmental social service agencies access to the National Crime Information Center and the Interstate Identification Index. Section 153, also called the Schools Safely Acquiring Faculty Excellence (SAFE) Act, provides that the Attorney General shall, upon the request of a state’s chief executive officer, conduct fingerprint-based checks of national crime information databases pursuant to requests submitted by child welfare agencies, by private or public elementary or secondary schools, or local or state educational agencies.
In 2007, Gov. Blunt signed legislation allowing for the dissemination of criminal history record information under the Adam Walsh Act to further protect Missouri children.
The safety of Missouri’s children is one of Gov. Blunt’s highest priorities. Gov. Blunt has been a national leader in protecting children from sexual predators. He enacted Missouri’s version of Jessica’s Law, an action that mandates a life sentence with at least 30 years served for predators who commit egregious crimes against young children. Additionally, Blunt made Missouri one of the first states in the nation to mandate lifetime GPS monitoring for sex offenders. Gov. Blunt supports new provisions to make forcible rape and forcible sodomy against a child younger than 12 a crime for which the death penalty may be sought.
Gov. Blunt also has promoted the INOBTR (I Know Better) Campaign to provide information about online predators and supports requiring registered sex offenders to provide e-mail addresses and other online identifiers to authorities. The governor instituted the Missouri Alert Network to enhance school safety and supported funding for cyber crime grants to assist law enforcement in investigating dangerous Internet crimes, especially sex crimes exploiting children. ..more.. by KSPR NEWS
March 24, 2008
TX- DPS to post Texas sex offenders' job data
3-24-2008 Texas:
This year, visitors to the Texas Department of Public Safety's Web site can find out where the state's registered sex offenders are working and can sign up for a notification system for their home ZIP code.
The changes, which resulted from a $1.2 million software upgrade, will be welcomed by some North Texans.
In Mansfield, members of one neighborhood group that recently organized around concerns about where sex offenders live say they're glad to get any information they can. Sex offender employment information will help residents keep tabs on those they consider dangerous, said Steve Kyle, a Mansfield father of two who helped organize a recent meeting about a registered sex offender in his neighborhood.
"The guy comes and goes at very odd hours," Kyle said. "In our community, we'd at least be able to know if he's working, and if we knew where he was working, it might give you some indication of when he would be coming and going."
The changes
About 47,000 registered sex offenders live in Texas. Their names, birth dates, addresses, physical descriptions including shoe size and limited information about the conviction for which they are required to register is available on the DPS Web site, said Tela Mange, an agency spokeswoman.
The upgrade came about in part because of federal regulations related to the Adam Walsh Child Protection and Safety Act of 2006, Mange said. That act requires states to comply with a number of disclosure rules by 2010 or risk losing some federal funds. The new features also reflect Attorney General Greg Abbott's opinions about what information should be available to the public.
Twice in February 2007, Abbott issued opinions that law enforcement agencies should release sex offenders' employment information.
Besides work information and e-mail notifications, the new system will also allow people to search for a full listing of sex offenders in their ZIP code. The software doesn't now allow generation of a ZIP code list of more than 100 names, Mange said.
Restrictions in place
Registered sex offenders can be restricted in where they live and work as long as they are on parole or probation.
But those restrictions don't continue after an offender successfully completes supervision.
As a result, many Tarrant County communities, including Arlington, Southlake, Watauga and Richland Hills, have adopted ordinances in the past few years to limit where sex offenders can live, typically more than 1,000 feet from schools or other places where children gather.
In Mansfield, the subject of sex offender residency restrictions has been discussed among city leaders for several months and played a large role in the resignation of the mayor this year. Now, in part because of concerns from Kyle's community, the issue is once again on the City Council's agenda.
Mansfield's Web site has its own listing of sex offenders with a link to the state database. Residents can also sign up for computerized RSS alerts that notify them of any new or changed registration in the city.
Kyle said he didn't know about the city's notification system until after a man convicted of sexually assaulting an 11-year-old girl moved into his Walnut Creek Valley neighborhood.
Now, he said, parents in the neighborhood are cautioning their children more than ever and keeping an eye on their new neighbor. Giving the public more information about offenders would make that easier, he said.
Caution offered
Shari Julian, who teaches in Texas Wesleyan University's criminal justice and sociology department, said she worries that the workplace information could result in "collateral damage" by creating dangerous situations for businesses that have chosen to give a registered sex offender a second chance.
Julian said she's not justifying sex offenders' crimes. But, she said, the state needs to do a better job of separating classes of offenders if authorities are going to continue making more information available about their lives and adding more restrictions.
"We have to figure out who got on there because somebody's dad was ticked off because their 16-year-old daughter was seeing a guy who just turned 20 and they ended up getting married and having kids," Julian said.
Sgt. Cheryl Johnson, who oversees the Fort Worth Police Department's sex crimes, registration, apprehension and monitoring unit, said the addition of work addresses to the registry will be helpful to the public. But she cautions that people need to remember that not every sexual predator can be found by looking on the registry Web site.
"I'm just as concerned about the sex offenders we don't know about as I am the ones that are registered with us," Johnson said.
This report includes material from the Star-Telegram archives.
PROPOSED MANSFIELD ORDINANCE
The Mansfield City Council is scheduled tonight to consider regulations that would apply to registered sex offenders who were convicted of crimes against children younger than 16. Offenders who have completed their probation or parole are not now limited in where they can live. The first of three required votes and the first of two public hearings are set for the 7 p.m. meeting at City Hall, 1200 E. Broad St.
The proposal would:
Prohibit offenders from living within 1,000 feet of a school, day care, playground, youth center, public swimming pool or video arcade.
Forbid renting a house or trailer to an offender not allowed to live within a 1,000-foot safety zone.
Require police to mail alerts to neighborhoods when an offender moves nearby. Police would also notify the school district.
Fine an offender up to $500 for each day of a violation. ..more.. by TRACI SHURLEY, Star-Telegram staff writer
FL- Sex offenders tend to live in clusters
There is a new theory developing one that has no basis in fact, that lawmakers should enact "no loitering" laws instead of residency restrictions. All this theory is, is a compromise with lawmakers. Reality is, there is no proof whatsoever, that, loitering is a factor in sex offenses or contributes to sexual offending. I would like to see a single study which shows "loitering" contributes to sex offenses.
3-23-2008 Florida:
Down a widely known street, where beautiful houses and inexpensive apartments share a canopy of trees between U.S. 1 and the Indian River, lives a registered sex offender.
And another. And another. And another.
The tiny white bungalows, cottages and trailers at 2664 Pineapple Ave., two miles north from Eau Gallie Boulevard, are home to four registered sex offenders and the last known address for a fifth who fled from house arrest.
No other Brevard County address boasts that many registered sex offenders, according to a FLORIDA TODAY analysis of more than 900 offenders identified by the Brevard County Sheriff's Office Web site.
Some addresses show two offenders living in one location, but no single address with such a concentration.
And according to the Florida Department of Law Enforcement Web site, 13 sexual offenders live within one mile of that address, including at least one more on Pineapple Avenue. Bobby Joe Helms, who pleaded guilty and served 13 years in prison in the rapes of a dozen women in the Tampa area, resides on U.S. 1 about a mile and a half north of the Pineapple address.
The fact that so many sex offenders chose the Pineapple Avenue address -- Rocky Water Park Cottages -- is no accident. Property managers Ruth and Jack Sauder consider the complex to be a weigh station for those trying to get back on their feet and those who are maybe on the way down.
"I don't have a problem renting to them," Ruth Sauder said. "They are careful to mind their p's and q's and they give me less trouble than the other tenants."
Florida law requires a 1,000-foot buffer between registered sex offenders and schools, day care centers, parks, churches or libraries. Finding that kind of location -- as well as a willing landlord -- can be tricky.
"There are several residential locations in Brevard County where more than one designated sexual offender or predator may currently live," said sheriff's Cmdr. Doug Waller. "This usually occurs through word of mouth after an offender has found a property owner or manager who will rent or lease and the property location does not conflict with any legislative or ordinance mandate."
Options limited
Child safety advocate Kevin Gillick, who publishes a newspaper devoted to the whereabouts of sexual offenders in the county, says seeing registered offenders living close together may not be a bad thing.
"There are probably some advantages as far as monitoring or tracking offenders," Gillick said. "Concentrating the population has been a traditional way of dealing with a despicable segment of society."
Yes, the Ghetto mentality, which society has used for eons. As long as they are over there then that is OK, because then they are not here -whereever the speaker is-. Society then further denies them based on their ghetto address, a subtle way of further punishing them. eAdvocate
Gillick agreed with Waller that housing options are limited for registered sex offenders.
"When people do background checks and credit checks, then there are not many choices for sex offenders," he said. "It's also likely that they are financially destitute."
Sauder said the only offender she has ever turned away was Helms -- known as the Hyde Park serial rapist from Tampa -- just a few months ago.
"The people here are struggling and trying to make it," she said. "I try to look at the person and not the circumstances."
Helms has been forced to move a couple of times. He finally settled at 3735 N. Harbor City Blvd. Sauder said letting Helms move in would have upset too many people in the complex that has 64 housing units.
Buffer zones vary
While state law already limits housing options for offenders, some municipalities have made it tougher by imposing more restrictions.
In South Florida, for example, many cities and at least two counties have raised the buffer-zone requirements from 1,000 feet to 2,500 feet. This, according to Lynn University Assistant Professor Jill Levenson, has created a transient and homeless population of sex offenders.
A newly proposed state bill would raise the mandatory buffer zones to 1,500 feet statewide and would supercede the 2,500-foot zones.
"Research shows that sex offender restrictions increase transience, homelessness and instability," Levenson said, adding that a population of homeless sex offenders has taken up residence beneath a bridge in Fort Lauderdale.
What Levenson does like about the bill is another facet that would institute "no loitering zones" around schools, playgrounds and bus stops. She recommends keeping the statewide buffer zone at 1,000 feet and starting the "no loitering" zones.
"Right now a sex offender can hang out in a park all day long," Levenson said. "The loitering bill would restrict daytime activities, instead of where someone sleeps at night." ..more.. by Torres at 242-3649 or jtorres@floridatoday.com.
CA- An Assessment of current management practices of adult sex offenders in California
January 2008
PREFACE
Sexual assault continues to bring tremendous and long-lasting suffering into the lives of its victims, and the communities in which they live. The mandate of the California Sex Offender Management Board (CASOMB) is to play a key role in reducing sexual victimization in our state, particularly that perpetrated by individuals who have already been identified as sexual offenders. Consequently, every effort of CASOMB must be informed by a clear perspective on the experiences of victims – viewed individually as well as collectively. California is an exceptional state. Its size, diversity, distribution of resources and variations in practices, make any assessment of public safety strategies a complex and expansive challenge. The legislation that created the CASOMB in statute acknowledged this reality by requiring the board to focus the first phase of our work, and thus this report, on current practice and existing research.
When passing and signing AB 1015 (Chu) in 2006, California’s legislature and Governor wisely recognized that in order to truly, and effectively, improve sex offender accountability and management strategies it was necessary to understand the current state of practice. The safety of the public, victims and those who could be potentially victimized depends on the deployment of public safety strategies that are effective and achievable.
By studying evidence-based sex offender management practices and gathering information with regard to what California is currently doing to either conform to evidence-based practice or to diverge from such practice, the CASOMB is taking a first major step toward its mandated goal: “…address any issues, concerns, and problems related to the community management of adult sex offenders...to achieve safer communities by reducing victimization.”
The CASOMB, in preparing this Report, has been primarily interested in assembling the “currently available” information about sex offender management in California. The reader of this Report will, it can be assumed, share with its authors an awareness that there is much information that is desirable but not provided. It is not provided because it is not readily available at a statewide level. Noteworthy “gaps” in the ready availability of information needed to develop recommendations for improved policies and practices are pointed out throughout the document.
The strengths, gaps, research recommendations and policy analysis included in this document should be considered an initial assessment of California’s practice – one of the first of its kind ever produced in this state. It should be noted that, as most readers of this Report are already aware, the reality of having so many jurisdictions, laws, systems, agencies and perspectives directly involved in the management of California’s sex offenders results in a very complex web of policies and practices that defy ready simplification. It is precisely this complexity – at least in part – that has created the need for instituting a Sex Offender Management Board as a locus of cohesive information and integrated expertise. This report represents the CASOMB’s first step towards the board’s vision to decrease sexual victimization and increase community safety.
.....
OVERVIEW OF THE SECTIONS OF THE REPORT
There are many domains of sex offender management and, for effective functioning, each must interface productively with some or all of the other components of the total system. Although, for purposes of clarity and ease of understanding, each of the following sections is addressed somewhat separately, important interactions with other elements of the overall system will be regularly noted.
SECTION One – Prevalence of Sexual Assault and Services for Victims
SECTION Two - Numbers and Distribution of Offenders,
SECTION Three – Sex Offender Recidivism,
SECTION Four - Investigation and Prosecution,
SECTION Five - Supervision,
SECTION Six - Housing,
SECTION Six - Supervision,
SECTION Seven - Treatment,
SECTION Eight – Registration, Notification and Post-Superversion Management
..page 1 of this 225 page report.. by California Sex Offender Management Board
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